Oh well I suppose we better get another issue out. Not much going to be happening so early in the year, but let’s take a look…
Oh my, Letters history! Yes
Steve Frame, a.k.a. Dounreay, moves into joint fourth place on the all time list changing the shape of the Letters Mount Rushmore for all time, and frankly making it a bit overcrowded.
Lets jump into a full inside back page of letter loveliness for
Prog 2165.First up is the Letter of the Week from old hand
Stephen Watson of Paisley. This is Stephen’s 100th letter to see print and it narrows his Prog/Meg misalignment to 49/51. This is his 6th letter of the week, tying the total of one time rival Floyd Kermode on 6. The all time Letters of the week prize currently held by Steve Frame on 8, so that must now be in the sights of the Paisley Lettersmith.
Stephen’s letter is a nice tribute to fallen letters droid Ellie De Ville, so he’d rather not bang on about this achievement, just this once. People have asked if gaining the century would make Stephen insufferable? No, he already was.
Stephen has previously had tribute letters published for Ron Smith and Steve Dillon - has he found a cynical niche here? No, he just respects talent and likes to mark the passing of legends with his own tribute. Hope there’s none for a while! The landmark prize and letter are shown below, shortly before they headed off to the Smithsonian.
Next up is
Jonathan Harrington of Fareham who sounds like a ‘Game of Thrones’ actor & character mash up. Jonathan flashes his credentials in the form of saying he’s the one who sets the English exam papers. That doesn’t intimidate us; we write words good, and that.
Jonathan says he has never written in before and while we can’t attest to that, this is his first published appearance. He likes the Christmas Prog and claims to have read since Prog 1.
He is only the second Harrington to have a letter published following Phillip from China whom we met in Prog 863 back in 1993. We also have a profile from Lance in Prog 198 in 1981 but they only count when there is a tie.
We get The
Browning Version next in the shape of
Chris from Todmorden. Chris moves up the Beast charts with this, his 13th offering. He is the bright young thing of the letters world, with his total having been amassed in the short time since his debut in Prog 1961 in 2015. His best year was 2018 which saw 5 letters published. 2019 saw a dip with just two, but 2020 has started well.
Chris’ letter is an interesting analysis of the varying art styles in the Prog and he makes some decent points. Tharg is clearly keen for more and agrees his organ is ‘eye popping’ - must be the Viagra.
Steve Hallam of Wrexham, Welsh Wales rocks up next and basically rubbishes the previous letter saying the art is “muddy” - can’t please everyone. Tharg takes exception and asks for examples to support this viewpoint and says there is more to come - so tough Cheddar Steve!
Steve enjoys his fourth outing here, with his previous appearance being in Meg 393. He averages about one a year and will attain the top spot early in the next century if everyone else hangs up their pens.
Last up is friend of the thread
Steve Frame of Caithness who follows up his two 2019 offerings with this, his 30th overall. Significantly this breaks one tie but creates another as he shoves his way into joint fourth place on the all time greats list. Grant Goggins looks unassailable,but he’s not had one published since Meg 325 in 2012.
Steve is a fan of the Prog, with all his letters appearing in the flag ship organ apart from one in Meg 393 in 2018 - extra bawbees must have got the subject issue to him or he found it on the bus.
Steve’s letter is a fun discourse of the Prog and the general election and he shows his politics by referring to the Prime Minister as a ‘muppet’. He’s bang wrong there - people actually like the Muppets!
Overall this was a great letters page with seasoned campaigners sitting comfortably with that new guy who sets exams - I demand a recount on my 1986 O’ level!
**Updated Beast Top 30 - 3 digit capacity to totals column added***
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